ANNIKA Invitational USA Presented by Rolex Coming to World Golf Village
More Than 70 of the World’s Best Female Junior Golfers Scheduled to Compete
(ORLANDO, Fla.) – The ANNIKA Foundation – golf Hall-of-Famer Annika Sorenstam’s charitable organization – will kick off its 2020 tournament schedule with the ANNIKA Invitational presented by Rolex at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida, January 17-20.
For the 12th consecutive year, girls ages 12 to 19 from around the world are scheduled to play in the 54-hole, stroke-play event. Competitors will vie for coveted points in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) and Rolex AJGA Rankings, with the tournament winner receiving an exemption into the Symetra Tour’s Florida’s Natural Charity Classic, March 2-8, 2020.
England’s Lily May Humphreys (2019 ANNIKA Invitational Europe), Argentina’s Agustina Zeballos (2019 ANNIKA Invitational Latin America) and Chinese Taipei’s Ho Yu An (2016 ANNIKA Invitational at Mission Hills) are former ANNIKA tournament winners headlining the strongest junior girls’ field in North America.
They are joined by standouts like Rose Zhang (Irvine, Calif.), the AJGA’s No.1-ranked player who has verbally committed to play at Stanford; Sadie Englemann (Austin, Texas), the No. 6-ranked player who has also verbally committed to Stanford; No. 2-ranked Alexa Pano (Lake Worth, Fla.), who qualified for the 2019 United States Women’s Open as a 14-year-old; and No. 10-ranked Catherine Park (Irvine, Calif.) who’ll be competing in her first ANNIKA Invitational USA.
“We’re excited to once again jump right into the new year with another outstanding field for our ANNIKA Invitational USA presented by Rolex,” says Annika, who will be onsite for the entirety of the tournament. “On and off the course, the World Golf Village is a wonderful venue for our flagship girls’ event in the U.S.”
Annika’s schedule for the week includes a clinic for competitors during which she’ll share her “Winning Approach” philosophy, a World Golf Hall of Fame dinner and an awards presentation.
The ANNIKA Foundation is devoted to growing the game of golf around the world. It annually hosts six girls-only invitational tournaments on five continents: the ANNIKA Invitational USA presented by Rolex, the ANNIKA Invitational Europe and ANNIKA Cup (Sweden), ANNIKA Invitational at Mission Hills (China), the ANNIKA Invitational Latin America and the ANNIKA Invitational Australasia (New Zealand). At the college level, each year it hosts the ANNIKA Intercollegiate presented by 3M and bestows the ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel to most outstanding female Division I golfer as voted on by peers, coaches and media.
Since the inaugural Foundation tournament – the 2009 ANNIKA Invitational USA – 60 ANNIKA event alumnae have earned LPGA cards. Twenty-eight alumnae competed in the 2019 ANA Inspiration.
For more information, please visit www.annikafoundation.org.
About the ANNIKA Foundation
Annika created the ANNIKA Foundation (www.annikafoundation.org) to provide opportunities in women’s golf at the junior, collegiate and professional levels while teaching young people the importance of living a healthy, active lifestyle through fitness and nutrition. The Foundation has partnered with key organizations to promote healthy, active lifestyles for children, including SPARK, Florida Hospital for Children in support of its Healthy 100 Kids initiative and The First Tee in development of the Nine Healthy Habitscurriculum for children, and an endowment of the AJGA’s ACE Grant.
It annually conducts six major golf events for aspiring junior girls: the ANNIKA Invitational USA presented by Rolex at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida; ANNIKA Invitational at Mission Hills in China; ANNIKA Invitational Europe and ANNIKA Cup in Sweden; the ANNIKA Invitational Latin America and the ANNIKA Invitational Australasia in New Zealand. Moreover, with the support of 3M, the Haskins Commission and Golfweek, the Foundation created the ANNIKA Award presented by 3M, which is given annually to the best collegiate female golfer. Since 2014, the Foundation has also annually hosted the ANNIKA Intercollegiate presented by 3M, a college tournament featuring 12 of the top Division I schools. Each year, the Foundation also conducts several “Share My Passion” grass roots clinics designed to introduce kids to the game.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Stephen Reynolds
Buffalo Agency
703.344.6031
sreynolds@buffalo.agency
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